Machine for washing- clothes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL SWETT, JR., OE PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

MACHINE FOR WASHING CLOTHES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 1,236, dated July 12, 1839.

T0 @ZZ whom 'it may conce/rn Be it known that I. SAMUEL Swn'rr, Jr., of Portsmouth, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, marhinist, have invented a new and Improved .llachine for lVashing Clothes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same.

The nature of my invention consists, in constructing a machine in the following manner:

is a box or tub two feet one inch long, eighteen inches wide, and fourteen and an half inches deep, set on legs ten inches high. A post is set on each side of the tub eight inches and an half high and four inches wide, narrowed at the top. It is nine inches from the end of the machine to the center of the posts.

B is a roller eighteen inches long and two inches and an half diameter, extending from one post to the other.

H H is two levers two inches and a half wide, one inch thick, and nine inches long, and are confined to the frame at one end; the other passes through the roller, confined by a pin.

D is a frame into which the clothes are placed, seventeen inches an a half wide, and is seventeen inches high. The bottom piece is brought nearly to an edge. Another cross piece three inches and a half wide, slides in grooves made in the side pieces up and down about twelve inches, the lower edge of which is rounded nearly to an edge; a. post three inches wide and about a quarter of an inch thick and twelve inches long is set fast in the center of the last mentioned piece, which slides freely up and down, through the piece placed across the frame at the top. A catch is placed in the mortise, at the side of the slide, which catches into a piece of brass, placed in the edge of the slide, having notches. A spiral spring extends from the catch to the side of the frame, which holds it in place. This frame is'attached to two levers H, H, b v hinges. and is worked up and down by a short lever O, passing through the roller B.

E is a moving rubbing board placed inside the tubs, twelve inches and a. half high, nine inches wide, and seventeen and a half long. One side is faced with a common rubbing board, five inches of the bottom of which is open work to allow the Water to pass through. The top ve is made solid,

the remaining two and a half inches at the top is beveled, to admit the clothes.

l", is a screw turned by a crank, which passes through the end of the machine, and is connected to a cross piece on the rubbing board that moves it to and from the clothes when in use. G is another rubbing board of the same form and dimensions on the face, and is confined to two posts set in the corners of the tubs by four spira-l springs. The face of this board is about eight inches from the end of the tub. The spiral springs are about one inch and a quarter diameter. and seven inches long, let into the posts and confined by strips of cloth leading' from the post in the corner to the post on the rubbing board. The machine is covered at each end about the space that the rubbing boards occupy. An aperture is made at one end for drawing off the water.

Fig. 2 is a tin tube that goes through the side of the machine about three inches from the bottom and between the rubbing boards and is about one inch diameter and three feet long or of any convenient length to tit to a boiler set on a furnace or stove as represented in the section of drawing I, which is a side detached from the machine A, representing the legs and post on top.

To use this machine. about nine gallons of water is required. The clothes are folded about half a yard square, and placed in the frame, and by dropping the slide are held in place, while they are working betwixt the two rubbingboards. The handle is confined down by a hasp on the end of the tub, which brings the frame in a right position for put-ting in and taking out the clothes. The screw in the end is to regulate the rub bing boards and place them at any distance required.

The size of the machine I deem most convenient, but it may be varied, carefully observing the proportions above specified.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The frame I). for holding the clothes in combination with the rubbing board E, regulated by a screw and the rubbing board G, attached to springs for the purpose and in the manner herein described.

SAMUEL swnrr, JR.

llVitnesses:

HENRY M. DULLER, JOHN ALBION ANDREW. 

